I have had to take a three and one-half ounce shoe off a colt that trotted eighths of a mile in seventeen and a quarter seconds, that was scalping jogging, and shoe him with a ten and a half ounce heel weight shoe nailed back near quarters of hind feet to prevent him from scalping at the jog, after two changes in the front shoeing.
XX. SIDEWEIGHTS.
Sideweight shoes with the weight on the outside have a different effect or result on front and hind action. An outside weight shoe on a front foot has a tendency to make the leg wing in, and an outside weight shoe on a hind foot will widen and lengthen the stride, if feet are properly prepared, so you see it widens the hind action and closes the front action. To close the action of the front leg with this sideweight, lower the front foot on the inside. To widen the action of hind leg, lower the inside of hind feet. This sideweight shoe will help a paddler that has to carry a little weight, if you will lower the inside of the foot, but it is no good for a knee knocker. The outside weight shoe has a different effect on front and hind action, has a tendency to close one and widen the other.
Sideweight shoes are good to correct the following faulty lines of action if the feet are correctly prepared for them to help the shoe, for if the foot, or feet, are not properly fixed to help the line of action this faulty fixed foot will work against the effect of the sideweight, and the results will be very unsatisfactory. Sideweight shoes are best for winging in, or paddling out, with front legs, hitching or hopping or carrying a hind leg in, out of line, or carrying a hind leg between the front legs, also good for a wheel swinging hind leg.
XXI. WHEEL SWINGING.
A trotter that is wheel swinging a hind leg, has developed a line of action that is tiresome, controlled mostly by the muscles on the outside of leg, that unbalances action at speed to a certain extent, and it looks unsightly to a good judge of gait, when coming to you or going from you. To correct this faulty line of action of wheel swinging, keep the toe of hind feet nearly as long as the front feet, and have the angle of the hind feet within two or three degrees of the same as the front feet. If the angle of front feet is fifty degrees have the angle of the hind feet about fifty-two or three degrees. Lower the outside of hind foot a full quarter of an inch or more than it will be on the inside, begin lowering the outside of hind foot at the center of toe back to outside heel, have both hind feet the same length and angle. Shoe with a sideweight shoe heaviest side of shoe on inside of foot, with heelcalks, and place a thin low calk about one inch long on inside toe of shoe in line from first to second nail holes. After the first shoeing, if line of action has not improved as it should, you must lower the outside of hind foot still more, but if you cannot lower the foot have a shoe made thicker on the inside toe and thinner on the outside toe and quarters, with the three calks on it and there will be more of a change. This change can be made in the first shoeing if you have enough of foot to change, but it is best for the horse and owner not to make too radical a change too quickly. It is best to do it in two or three shoeings, especially on a horse that has a lot of speed. Slow going horses can stand more of a radical change than fast ones.
The directions in this article for the cure of wheel swinging, by foot fixing and shoeing, will create a sudden change, at different points, on the bones of the foot and leg, so as to create a leverage at a particular point as the foot leaves the ground, to control a more perfect line of action. Be sure your horse is not carrying his head off to one side, the opposite side to the wheel swinging leg, for if so this helps to unbalance action and works against the results you are trying to get to a certain extent. Do not have the outside heel of shoe any longer than the inside but have both same length.
XXII. KNUCKLING OVER.
This is caused by weakness, sometimes of the ligaments that hold the bones of ankle in their sockets, and sometimes higher up. To shoe for this, the first thing to do is to prepare the foot. You are likely to find the hind feet abnormally long, perhaps longer than the front feet. Lower the toes of hind feet as much as they will stand, shorten toes by rasping off as much as the foot will stand, do not touch the heels or have the inside of foot higher than the outside. Now use a light hind shoe, with side calks, the calks to be one and a half to two inches long, and tapering towards the toe of shoe. At the point of heel this calk should be not less than one-half inch high, the higher the better, a square toe shoe is much better than a plain one, shod this way the very best result is obtained at once. A shoe made thick at heels, three-quarters of an inch or more, and thin at the toe for ordinary driving is good.